Working on a Budget: The Living Room.

Greetings to one and all,

It's been a long while since I've written a blog, mainly due to time and work but also because to be honest, I haven't much been in the mood for writing. But here I am thinking about various things and I've recently met with a lovely young couple who were looking to put together a house, on a limited budget [FYI ALL budgets are limited] and so as an exercise I am working on finding high style items and decorative elements that won't break the bank. So look forward to a series of affordable and high style rooms done if not on a shoestring at least on a shoe.

After the kitchen the 'Formal" Living Room is often the most expensive room in a house, sadly it's also the least used room in a house, reserved for Sundays, holidays and company. I've never understood why people continue to have them, no one, or almost no one lives formally anymore and it certainly isn't needed  for show when you're building an enormous house, But there they are, always in the front and always wanting to be decorated first....so everyone can skip right thru to the kitchen!

The look is classic transitional, you can do this in various style houses from a white box interior to a period room and it will work beautifully.  Keep your colors subtle and patterns minimal and it will look modern, or use patterns for a more eclectic feel.

An nice pair of slipper chairs in old leather. Just leave them as they are, the patina will give the room added depth.

It helps if you already have a Braque or Picasso, but if you aren't so lucky a Venetian mirror would be a good touch, OR you could commission Ric Best Art to paint something for you.

It's aways nice to have a few low tables, why not choose some that are like small pieces of jewelry

Lighting is important and you could decide that a little drama might lighten up the mood. Venetian sconces fit the bill.

Add some strategically placed uplights and your lovely, freshly painted walls will glow. I'm liking lampshades less and less, so the ambient light will declutter your visual sight lines.

If there's room, why not add center table.  A simple vase with branches is all you need in front of tall windows.  You could also decide to use this as a side table between armchairs.

A long and low slung sofa will give the room height and scale

Let's throw in a couple of other chairs as well....different types of seating ....always important.

Under foot? Why not a beautifully worn rug. Muted colors and a little texture will unify the room and give you that not store bought feel.

Nothing like a place to sit and write, or just browse online. Why not this French cartonnier. These Louis XVI chairs are always easy to find new, vintage or antique and if you buy a set for your dining room you can use a pair in the living room.

Yes, this could all be achieved for what one would expect to pay for a new high end reproduction dining table.... How? Knowing how to shop, where to shop and making a phone call.

Look for the dining room next!!

And that's all I've got for today.

On to Holiday House NYC

Greetings Everyone!

It's Monday November 10th, the first day of installation at Holiday House NYC. I'm thrilled to be participating in this year's event. We've had 3 weeks to put our rooms together, gather items form vendors, in my case have everything custom made including some fabric and now we have this week to install. It's always a surprise when rooms are put together, it's like cooking, things come together like magic, but behind it all is a lot of care and hard work. Here's a sneak peek of a few items.




About the room:

Mischievous Night

The room is designed as a sitting room for daydreaming or plain reflection and relaxation. The mythical client is a Boho chic, lightly goth artsy type. We weren’t after a dark room for Hallowe’en as every night is mischief night if you’re so inclined, but more of a theatrical interpretation for an artistic spirit. After all November is the start of the Holiday Season, the first frost and winter fun.

Sketch for the room

Napoleon 3 chaise

Lining for the daybed canopy

Bronze legs on my daybed

This is the sketch for room's layout. I'm old fashioned and like to actually draw everything out on paper.

Stop by if you can, below is the link.

That's all I have today...off to work!

http://www.holidayhousenyc.com/contact/

Good Old NEW 834

Greetings All,

So what has kept me away from blogging the last few months? Finishing up a project out in the country, a new OTT job on Park Ave, an addition to a client's house and last but not least, we finally bought a small apartment on Riverside Drive which needed a lot of work and of course a trip to Europe that had been planned last January when we didn't know any of this would be happening.

 The apartment is in a prewar building and had had no work done on it for over 30 years. It was in fact used as storage.

The front hall

This was the original living room with french doors

you can see the door and wall on the left which was added at some point

Sort of odd pass thru made the apartment feel dingy and poky

We started by removing all of the trim and wallboard and then went about restoring the floors

Removed the partition that had been put up to make an extra bed room, not original to the apartment

Widened all of the openings and raised them almost to the ceiling which  created a sense of space

The opening before we opened it up

Bathroom is now clad in floor to ceiling marble tile with small marble tiles on the floor

Our color palette

We carved out a nice hall by modifying a deep closet and moving the door to our bed room. All of the original doors from 1910 were stripped 

Looking from the bathroom to the hall and beyond

Created a new smaller entrance hall that opens directly into the living room

New kitchen painted F&B Clucnh

The new space furnished. We added built ins and cleaned up all the surfaces

One of our side tables

Looking into the Living room. Bookcase before it was filled up

A corner of the living room

The small bed room with a large picture on steel by Ric Best

It's been a long summer, but we're finally in the new space and it's just about perfect for us. We're very grateful

and that's all I have for today

Hispanic Society of America at Audibon Terrace

Greetings,

It's been a long while since I've posted anything, been working hard and traveling a little but now that the dust has settled I thought it was time to sit and write a few thoughts on a place two blocks from where we live that I had never visited. Audibon Terrace is a rather imposing complex on Broadway and 156th Street. The two Beaux Arts buildings with a brick terrace and fountains is rather disconnected from the street. The iron gates don't seem to help, unlike the Columbia Campus there's not a welcome in kind of vibe, so I always walked right past it. Today I decided to walk in and I'm glad I did.

Looking across the terrace at Boriqua College

The lovely fountain parterre is currently under restoration

The main room is a lovely atrium dressed in Moravian tiles. It's a beautiful grand space on the ground floor with a balcony that currently houses the painting collection. That's one of the problems with the museum. The paintings are hung too high and sadly one cannot truly appreciate them. Add to that the lighting, which is rather harsh. I believe that originally there were vitrines, now moved to two other rooms under the paintings. I think it would have been better to place the paintings in those rooms and to have kept the pottery where it was, or better yet, there are empty vitrines under the arches, move the pottery there.  It's a really great collection, but sadly it suffers from placement.

There are two of these rooms with vitrines. I can easily imagine them lined with paintings, at eye level. So much better than covering those glorious arches in the main hall. Plus, do you really want everyone to see your biggest hits all at once? So much better to have a procession, the Spanish know all about those, we were just in Toledo this summer and experienced a 5 hour affair.....and the balcony, which could still house a few vitrines could be used for temporary exhibits, one of the missing elements to keeping this place truly alive.

The most effective room holds  a series of 15thc carvings

There are several first rate altars and carvings tucked away under the balcony or covering arches.

A huge room on the ground floor holds Joaquin Sorolla's  "Views of Spain". Not quite a panorama, I'd call it more of a series of impressions and it seriously conveys the feel of the country.

The second floor landing. There are some lovely tiles and Roman mosaics

I love the terra-cotta color on the walls and the railings are lovely

One of several gorgeous altarpieces 

A 1600's pottery vessel on an ornate stand. How about putting this on a refectory table in the middle of your atrium? 

The most famous painting is by Goya of the Condesa de Alba. Sadly she was on loan, but again she lives right across from the entrance...first painting you'd see... she belongs at the end of a long room that you need to work your way to. 

They really need to think about placement but it's a first rate collection that should be seen and it's proof that quality is much better than quantity.